Two Cases of Cutaneous Infection by Alternaria alternata on Senile Purpura Site / 대한의진균학회지

Genus Alternaria is a species of dematiaceous fungi that is commonly found in the atmosphere or in the soil. It can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis, bronchial asthma, or allergic rhinitis in immunocompromised host such as patient with organ transplantation or long-term steroid using patient. It can rarely cause skin infection. Case 1 was a 74-year-old man with well demarcated and elevated erythematous plaque with irregular scattered pustules on his right forearm. Case 2 was a 77-year-old woman with well demarcated elevated erythematous nodules within erythematous patch on her right forearm. In both cases, the lesions started at the senile purpura site. Herein, we report 2 rare cases of Alternaria alternata on senile purpura site to share the experience.

Mortality due to systemic mycoses as a primary cause of death or in association with AIDS in Brazil: a review from 1996 to 2006

Deaths caused by systemic mycoses such as paracoccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, candidiasis, aspergillosis, coccidioidomycosis and zygomycosis amounted to 3,583 between 1996-2006 in Brazil. When analysed as the underlying cause of death, paracoccidioidomycosis represented the most important cause of deaths among systemic mycoses (~ 51.2 percent). When considering AIDS as the underlying cause of death and the systemic mycoses as associated conditions, cryptococcosis (50.9 percent) appeared at the top of the list, followed by candidiasis (30.2 percent), histoplasmosis (10.1 percent) and others. This mortality analysis is useful in understanding the real situation of systemic mycoses in Brazil, since there is no mandatory notification of patients diagnosed with systemic mycoses in the official health system.

Histopathology of Dermatomycoses / 한양의대학술지

Dermatomycoses are defined as the fungal infections of the skin including hair and nail. Generally, dermatomycoses are divided into superficial mycoses involving hair, nail and horny layer of the epidermis, and deep mycoses involving dermis and subcutis. Superficial mycoses described herein are dermatophytosis, candidiasis and Malassezia infection. Histopathologic findings of onychomycosis were a little more focused because of recently increased interest of its usefulness in making the diagnosis of onychomycosis and its causative fungi. Deep mycoses of the skin include primary or secondary dermal and/or subcutaneous fungal infections. Deep mycoses reported only in Korea were briefly described herein. Those are sporotrichosis, the most common primary cutaneous deep mycosis in Korea, and rare deep mycoses including chromoblastomycosis, phaeohyphomycosis, mycetoma, cutaneous paecillomycosis, aspergillosis, cryptococcosis, mucormycosis, systemic candidiasis, fusariomysosis, and trichophytic granuloma. Cutaneous protothecosis, a disease by achlorophilic algae, was also included because of its similarity of clinical and pathological findings with deep mycoses.

Clinicohistopathologic Findings and Their Differential Diagnoses of Pathogenic Fungal Infections of Cutaneoua Deep Mycoses / 대한의진균학회지

The awareness of classification and differential diagnosis of deep mycoses, particularly systemic infections due to pathogenic fungal infections, is essential for the early detection on and appropriate therapy. These systemic pathogenic fungal infections such as histoplasmosis, African histoplasmosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, blastomycosis, are usually endemic in limited areas of continents of America, and Africa. A newly recognized penicilliosis due to Penicillium marneffei, a dimorphic fungus, used to be endemic in Southeast Asia, is now world-wide new threat because the increased numbers of cases have been reported in Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States. Because of the increased international visitors to the endemic areas and a significant enlargement of the populations existing in immunocompromized state, thus susceptible to systemic mycoses, we, the primary care physicians should be on the alert for the clinicopathologic aspects of the systemic mycoses to make a diagnosis early enough to institute effective therapy.